DUBAI—When the Dubai Airshow moved from its former home at Dubai International Airport (DXB) to today’s purpose-built facility at Dubai World Central (DWC) in 2011, the national airport company’s CEO Paul Griffiths—operator of both airports—breathed a sigh of relief.
“The visible relief on my forehead that we would no longer be showcasing the world’s fastest jets, above the world’s busiest international airport, was huge,” Griffiths says. But seven editions later, both the show and the airport have blossomed into global leaders.
“The canvas that we’re now painting on is so much larger and the show has expanded hugely,” he says. “It’s been amazing. Visitor numbers have grown 42% since 1989, with 148,000 expected this year. Exhibitor numbers have gone up 25% in the same period.”
Griffiths says that with other global shows having stagnant growth, “without any disputes, we are the number one air show in the world now. That’s a nice position for us to be in.”
Dubai is looking to do the same with airport statistics. “We’ve overtaken Atlanta, I think, in terms of seat numbers that we provided,” he says.
“And so, you know, we’ve got the world’s largest airport. So we have the ability to showcase and develop the technology, which we believe will form the backbone of our future guest experience at DWC. And we’ve got the ability to test it on 95.2 million people here,” Griffiths explains.
“I can’t think of another airport that will have the opportunity to test in the most demanding live environment on so many people, so many new technologies, which will evolve over the next few years. And then roll them out at scale once they’ve been tested to DWC for phase two of the new airport.”
At the Dubai Airshow, Griffith’s team is exhibiting its OneDXB initiative, which brings together various technologies and innovations that he says will deliver sustainable solutions and improved passenger experience..
Griffiths is a disruptor and is keen to shake up the old ways of operating. “At the moment, all we’re doing is creating problems for ourselves and for our customers, by being too intrusive at the various disconnected parts of the journey and adding processes—I mean, who wants to have to take off watches and belts and shoes and laptops out of cases and to be dealt with?” he asks. “The only more intensive place that I can think of, other than airport security, is in a hospital operating theater.”
Griffiths continues: “So, why aren’t we using the latest technology to make it completely seamless, nonstop? We’re determined to use DXB as a live testbed, to use all this latest technology to refine it, to develop it at scale, to make it economic, to make it capacious, and make it really service-oriented towards delivering back to our customers the respect of valuing their time. And that’s the whole idea.”
“And I’m probably the luckiest airport CEO in the world to have that opportunity; to have this enormous live testbed for this new tech so that when we get to the new airport, we’ve decided what we’re going to do, we can roll it out at scale, and from day one, that can be not just the world’s biggest airport, but the world’s best.”
Griffiths and his team will be walking the talk at the show, meeting innovators and sharing the vision. The airport team is behind the Airport and Airline Keynote Track conference.
“We’ve got 450 speakers on different stages. The idea is that this is not just a showcase for products, this is also a showcase for human capital and intellect, and we want thought leaders to share their experiences. We learn so much by interfacing with other people and hearing their good ideas. Indeed, the majority of things you learn, you learn from others,” he says.
With projections for DWC looking at a 260-million passenger capacity at the new airport by 2057, and Dubai Airshow continuing its drive to be the innovation leader and biggest show in the world, Griffiths, no doubt, will be wiping his brow, pondering how to bring these together—but you can be sure he will have a plan to make it happen.
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